Tony Bennett - The Classics [2LP]

Tony Bennett's The Classics gathers six decades of effortless phrasing onto a 2LP set pressed on 150 gram vinyl, from his earliest hits to the duets that won over new generations.

Few singers ever made the Great American Songbook sound so lived-in. Bennett started out scoring hits in the early fifties, became a standard-bearer for sophisticated pop in the sixties, and then enjoyed one of the great late-career revivals in popular music. This collection follows that whole arc.

The opening side is the golden-era Bennett many fans first fell for. Because of You captures the warm, open-hearted crooner of his early years, I Left My Heart in San Francisco remains his signature song, and The Good Life and I Wanna Be Around show how lightly he could swing a melody. Later highlights such as How Do You Keep the Music Playing reveal the mature interpreter, his voice richer and more conversational.

Duets thread through the back half: New York, New York with Frank Sinatra, For Once in My Life with Stevie Wonder, The Lady Is a Tramp with Lady Gaga and a tender Body and Soul with Amy Winehouse, each partner clearly thrilled to share the microphone.

It is a generous, joyful portrait of an artist who never stopped loving a good song.